Whoever first paired salt and pepper was a genius, like the person who cast Ginger Rogers with Fred Astaire, or Doris Day with Rock Hudson. Or the person who discovered that chocolate always tastes better with a tiny bit of vanilla.

Pepper is, in volume and value, the most important spice in the world; the best varieties grow in India and Malaysia, but there's not a cuisine that doesn't use pepper, either in spice blends (likebaharat, ras el hanout or adobo seasoning), or paired with salt, or on its own.

For years I bought into the "fresh ground" way of life. I tried one pepper mill after another -- the pretty ones that don't grind, the ugly ones that do, and the French ones that, like all things French, manage to look impossibly beautiful while getting the job done.

More than any other spice in my kitchen, black pepper gets a workout every time I cook, and I go through it at an alarming rate. So, for the past five years, I've been using Penzeys coarse-ground Tellicherry pepper. I buy 8-ounce bags for less than $7.00, and keep a working supply in my recycled lemon curd jar on the spice rack, with the rest in the freezer. I go through what's in the jar every month, so the pepper stays fresh. It comes in several different grinds, and I often have the super-coarse on hand, too.

Neither can I. So, I really need to move pepper to the top of my can't-live-without-it list. Right next to salt.

Chocolate double ginger cupcakes

The first time I made these cupcakes, I felt something was missing. The next time, I added pepper, to help bring out the flavor of the ginger. Bingo! The black pepper did the trick. Adapted from Joy of Baking. Makes 16.

Directions

In a small bowl, stir the cocoa powder and boiling water until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and powdered ginger.

Then in the bowl of a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the crystallized ginger and the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. After 5 minutes, remove the cupcakes from the pan, and let them sit on the wire rack until completely cool.

When the cupcakes are cool, combine confectioners sugar and water in a small glass measuring cup, and whisk together until it forms an icing. If the icing is not a pourable consistency, add water, a drop at a time, and continue to whisk until you can pour the icing. Drizzle over each cupcake.

wow Lydia, the addition of black pepper just blew my mind! I must try that! and just because I'd love to win something for once in my life (I must be the luckiest ever in love because I never win anything) I have to tell you that my favorite cupcake is filled with Nutella. I am not a fan of nutella but I love to find it in a cupcake!

Those look delicious. Although I could never be mistaken for a vegan, a friend of mine introduced me to the best chocolate cupcakes that have neither eggs, butter nor milk. Of course she didn't tell me until after I had (honestly) raved they were the best I had ever eaten!

I never would have thought of adding pepper to cupcakes. I love hearing about innovative uses for basic ingredients!

I never realized how much I use pepper until I ran out of peppercorns a few weeks ago and was too busy to get to the store for a few days. It was like I was trying to cook with one hand tied behind my back... nothing felt right. Now I make sure to keep a plentiful supply :)

What a great giveaway--such a wonderful idea! Would love any cookbook!

I remember making a chocolate-pepper loaf from one of Maida Heatter's cookbooks years ago, and it became a staple for a very long time in our house. These cupcakes with ginger AND pepper sound like a step up from those!

I love Penzey's! My favorite blend of theirs is the Galena Street Rub, which I use on roasted nuts. But, back to cupcakes, ginger are my favorite! I'll be trying this recipe very soon, probably today :)

Gorgeous photos! I agree, black pepper is such an essential. I was amazed when I found it was the "secret" ingredient I couldn't quite identify in Rubio's pinto beans. Not sure I have a favorite cupcake (and definitely no cupcake cookbooks!) but anything with lemon or lime would always be my favorite when it comes to desserts.

What a great idea - with the cookbooks, I would love any one of them. I like the idea of these cupcakes. I'm a big fan of putting (usually) savory items with (usually) sweet items, it ends up making for a tasty, can't-get-enough kind of treat!

The only chocolate cupcakes I baked successfully were ones I made using a Devil's food cake recipe from a cookbook given by my then 12-year-old daughter two Christmases ago. They were so darn good they were all gone before I could take photos for my blog.

I never realized how many different kinds of pepper are actually available. Now I find I must try them all and your idea of freezing pepper would never have crossed my mind. Thanks for a great way to keep pepper fresh.

Now you've got me stuck on thinking black pepper and lime on sweet potato fries! Stuck in an airport & flying for the next 5 hours before we can possibly get home. . .
Love that Penzy's Tellicherry pepper, that's what's in my grinder always now.

I can completely relate about the pepper. I *love* using it and after reading this recipe I can't wait to give 'em a try. I've never used pepper in baking so this will be a great new experience for me!

YEAY! Please enter me. My favvvvvvorite chocolate cupcakes are from an old Mississippi junior league cookbook. I SWEAR by them. They are made by hand, with a wooden spoon, and hardly have any flour. The batter is a soupy concoction of melted chocolate, strong coffee, and a bit of Jack Daniel's. Eggs, sugar, melted butter, and a bit of flour are whisked in. The final product is dense, deeeeeep, and fudgy, and frosted in velveteen ganache.

My most favorite cupcakes have cayenne pepper in them. Something about the cayenne just lifts the flavor of the chocolate to a new level. Thanks for all the info you share with everyone, keep up the good work.

What a fabulous idea to add pepper to the ginger and chocolate! Very creative.
I like pepper on strawberries - thanks to Dorie Greenspan.
My favourite chocolate cupcake is mocha with a cappuccino cream cheese icing.
My fave cupcake cookbook (or design book) is Hello, Cupcake!

heard of 30 day friendship cake? you ferment fruit & brandy for a month, each week adding a different canned fruit and sugar. Then you mix up yellow cake mix using fermented juice & fruit. I don't like cake mix, so I use a simple cake recipe. Last time the fruit was ready, I used Mayo Cake in muffin size. So delish! and cupcakes are great fun. I love ginger and I'm going to try this recipe next weekend. thanks!

I must admit my father is a bigger pepper fan than I am. Then again, his taste buds are a bit, shall we say, jaded (or burnt out), and *lots* of pepper he can notice. Last year we discovered there's a brick-and-mortar Penzey's not too far from his house, and he's in heaven. All those sorts of peppers, and lots of coarse grinds!

I grew up watching my dad take the tops off the pepper shakers at restaurants because he could never get enough just by shaking it. I have caught myself doing this more then once as of late. "like father like daughter"

My favorite chocolate cupcakes are made from one of Ina Garten's recipes called Beatty's chocolate cake. It's delicious and has buttermilk, lots of cocoa, and an entire cup of fresh hot coffee, which really enhances the flavor of the chocolate.

My favorite chocolate cupcakes are flavored with good cocoa powder, vanilla, coffee, a touch of cayenne and a bit of cinnamon. Left to "age" for a day (as hard as it is to wait- they smell great out of the oven!) but the flavors really develop and meld with a little time.....

I love the Joy of Baking website and have pulled so many great recipes from there. I must say that I love a deep, moist devil's food cupcake with a simple chocolate buttercream frosting (like the one I posted on my blog at the beginning). Yummy, simple pleasure! And what a great give-away! Who doesn't love receiving a new (or slightly used) cookbook, especially a cookbook with thoughts and notes scribbled in the margins?

I made these last night and they are delicious. I can never get icings to come out like that do on the internet, I used less than a tablespoon of water to my 1/4 c. sugar but it was super runny and clear so I added another 1/4c sugar and just didn't use it all. It was still thin but it did make a nice glaze for the cupcakes.

I have been using coarse-ground pepper ever since you wrote about it here a year or so ago. If I only need a little, I use my grinder - but I checked once, and it took EIGHTY twists of my grinder to get a full teaspoon of pepper. The coarse-ground also came in handy when I sprained my wrist a few weeks ago, and had to cook one-handed!

My favorite chocolate cake makes an excellent cupcake, too: German Chocolate with, naturlich, home-made, *not* canned, coconut/pecan icing. Can't be beat with a stick.
PS I love the physical action of grinding pepper, but am still in search of a grinder that will grind without breaking for more than six months or so. Anybody got a grinder they've had for, say, 3 years? What is it and where can I get one?

I recently made Curtis Stone's Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and they're at the tops of my list of favourites right now, but probably because they're also what I've had most recently...

If you ever buy back into the fresh-ground way again, a Turkish coffee grinder is the way to go. I have one that was given to me when I first left home. It's also sturdy enough, I could probably clobber an intruder over the head with it.

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Welcome to The Perfect Pantry®

My name is Lydia Walshin. From my tiny kitchen in Boston's South End, I share recipes that use what we keep in our pantries, the usual and not-so-usual ingredients that spice up our lives. Thanks so much for visiting.